Page 97 of Icarus

Green

These final days felt pale and flimsy. It was Wednesday and Icarus and Luca were forced to play dodgeball indoors for gym instead of walking in the cold.

Luca didn’t look at him much while Icarus was in the position to look back, but Icarus felt the weight of his gaze all the same. They were on different teams, so they didn’t get the opportunity to talk. And when it was time to get dressed, Luca slipped away so Icarus couldn’t go after him.

Next period, Icarus sat down behind Celestina and put his face in the cradle of his arms. She turned around and reached over him to scrape her acrylic nails against the back of his neck.

She scratched him until he was shivering, loose-limbed and easy. Until the tips of his ears were hot. Then she traced the rims of those too.

Icarus made a soft noise and she immediately took her hand back.

“Luca said he told you about Friday dinner?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“It’s at six o’clock. I’ll text you the address.”

Icarus lifted his head so he could look at her. “Should I dress up nice?”

“Not unless you want my whole family to comment on it.” Celestina grinned down at him. She’d braided gold beads into her hair and they shimmered under the fluorescent glare.

“Is Luca still coming? He’s avoiding me, I think,” Icarus murmured, burying his head back in his arms.

“He does that when he’s embarrassed. Just talk to him, and it will be fine,” Celestina said. She turned back around to pay attention to what was going on in class.

Icarus was afraid that it wouldn’t be.

List

Icarus ditched his other classes and spent the rest of the day in the library finishing up his half of the paper for Julian.

He checked his bank account one more time, made a few calls to be sure the transfer to his new separate private account would land precisely when he meant it to.

He looked up hotels and transportation options along two different routes: toward Helios’s mom and away from her.

Icarus even ordered a few pieces of clothing in what he was hoping was close to Helios’s size, in case they didn’t have time to pack.

He stared at the purchase button on the screen for a bit, his cursor hanging over it. Then he pulled out his phone and opened his photos for another glance at the pictures they’d taken of Helios’s bruising. His chest tightened in pain again.

Icarus added a couple pairs of warm socks and a pair of tennis shoes a few sizes bigger than his to the cart and paid for it all with a click.

He looked over his shoulder at the other kids milling out of the library to head home for the day and felt strange. He didn’t know why. This was just one more secret layered over his much older secrets.

He didn’t know why it felt like it mattered that he was leaving these people. He didn’t even know them. He’d never tried to.

Well—

Well.

Leap

On Thursday, he went to the guidance counselor.

Icarus didn’t have an appointment, so he had to sit outside and wait until whoever was in there decided to come out.

When he finally filled the doorway, Mrs. Drake’s hammy face didn’t look surprised.

“Take a seat, I’ll be with you in a sec.”